


The Niece

by Viwiel



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Leverage
Genre: Crossover, Episode: s02e12 The Zanzibar Marketplace Job, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 04:30:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viwiel/pseuds/Viwiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tara gets a surprise guest. (The Zanzibar Marketplace Job)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Niece

"You live and work here?" Sterling asked Nate when he came back downstairs with a bag.

"Yeah," Nate answered curtly.

"I liked the old place better," Sterling baited deliberately.

He was rewarded. "Do not mention the old offices," Hardison warned. Destroying his own property wasn't Hardison's idea of fun.

The squabble was interrupted by knocking at the door. Everybody shot a look at Nate.

"What?"

"You expecting somebody?" Eliot questioned, getting ready to fight if it was an unwanted visitor. Nate shook his head to the question; no, he wasn't expecting anybody.

"I get this. You stay out of sight, find some weapon," Eliot growled to them. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to get them off the game.

Others obliged without questions, scattering soundlessly away from the living room, some more so than others. Parker once again succeeded in practically disappearing on the spot, like she'd become invisible, while Hardison bumped into the coffee table on his way.

Eliot went to open the door, grabbing the knife that he had tucked away in his boot. It was there just in case something unexpected happened and he'd need a weapon.

Keeping the knife slightly behind his tight, so it wouldn't be visible to whoever was behind the door, he opened the door.

A tiny blonde woman was standing in the hallway with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a gruff tone.

"Hi!" the blonde shot a bright smile, "I'm looking for Tara Morgan?" she enquired.

"Or Cole," she added as an afterthought, before he had chance to say anything, "Doesn't really matter, does it? So is she here?"

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name?" Eliot wasn't quite sure how to react to this perky woman who apparently knew their newest crew member.

"Elizabeth Summers," she politely introduced herself and extended her free hand for him to shake, "but friends call me Buffy." She grinned at the look he shot at her at that.

"Why don't you come in," Eliot told her opening the door wider.

"Tara? Someone's-" he started to call, but was stopped by the woman in question appearing in his line sight. The grifter had emerged from the kitchen while he was speaking to the blonde.

Everyone else followed in suite, coming out from wherever they'd disappeared to.

"Buffy?" Tara was obviously surprised to see the woman at the door.

"It's okay, Eliot," Tara told the man in question, touching his shoulder while moving past him.

"I thought you were supposed to stay with Sophie?" she directed that to the smaller blonde.

Eliot, Hardison, and Parker glanced at Nate to see his reaction to the mention of their former grifter. His eyebrows rose and eyes widened slightly, so he didn't have any idea what was going on either.

"Yeah, I know," Buffy said, dumping her bag on the floor, "but you know how well I get along with all that sand. And the slimy git she's going out with? Really getting on my nerves," she complained. The moron was even slimier than the Immortal, and that was saying something.

"Also, she got tired of my "whining" as she calls it, and suggested, unnecessarily strongly I might add," she grinned at the memory of surrogate aunt gesturing while claiming Buffy to be impossible, "that I'd get here and see if I can help you."

Tara laughed at the thought of Buffy giving Sophie a hard time. She'd call it justice rightfully served, as she had to bear Nathan Ford and his band of misfits. It was only fair for Sophie to suffer as well. She could have cashed that favor in some other manner.

"Not that this ain't heartwarming and all…" Hardison butted in.

"I apologize," Tara said without the tiniest flicker of remorse, "this is Elizabeth Summers. She's…" Tara trailed off, not sure whether to reveal her connection to Buffy or not.

They usually made a point to keep their "career worlds" separate. No sense to add their enemies with those of the other's. This, however, was a special case. If they wanted for the crew to let her help them, she and Tara would have to give them something.

She exchanged a look with Buffy. It was up to her, what she wanted to reveal them.

Buffy understood what Tara was trying to relay with her eyes and after a moment of thinking took it upon herself to answer the wordless inquiry with a straightforward "I'm her niece".

The crew exchanged looks. That had come out of the blue for all of them. Not that they knew Tara all that well.

"So now that the cat's out of the proverbial bag, intros?" Buffy asked.

She was quite sure she knew who three of them were, but she was unclear which one of the older men was the Nate Sophie had been talking about and was one of the main reasons Soph had left the crew. Also, that left her in dark concerning the other one.

"Sure. This is Alec Hardison," Tara gestured towards the tall, lean African American man.

'The computer geek,' Buffy remembered what Sophie had told her, and gave a small wave at the tall hacker and received one in return.

"Parker," Tara introduced that blonde who was only a couple inches taller than Buffy herself. They mirrored each other with quirked smiles. She got to be the socially awkward thief Sophie had taken under her wing.

"Jim Sterling," the introduced man gave her a charming smile causing her to raise her eyebrow skeptically in a non-verbal 'you're serious?'"

Wait a sec! Sterling… Wasn't that one of the bad guys? Or good guys… Guess that depended on the point of view. What was he doing here? Had he changed sides or what was going on?

"Nathan Ford," so this was the guy Soph was hung over.

'He isn't that bad,' Buffy though as she gave the man an once-over, 'at least when compared to the guy Sophie is seeing at the moment.'

"And you've already met Eliot Spencer," Tara ended the introductions to the man who had opened the door to Buffy.

She exchanged polite smiles with the retrieval specialist.

"So what's going on here?" she was curious, "I'm guessing that's a case over there?" she gestured towards the screens on the wall.


End file.
